Come January 2025, Democrats will not control a single branch of the federal government, as Republicans take the White House and Senate while retaining a slender House majority. The real action in Washington will largely be on the right side of the aisle.
But in a polarized country, an out-of-power party’s time in the political wilderness can be brief. The last time a Republican presidential nominee won the popular vote, 20 years ago, Democrats retook Congress just two years later. Democrats will have high hopes for the midterm elections in 2026, and soon it will be off to the presidential races once again.
Thus, even on the eve of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office, it matters whether the Democrats have learned any lessons from their November defeat. The party’s operatives are talking about tacking back to the center. There has been some discussion of moving away from identity politics. “Race is a social construct, biological sex is not,” liberal commentator Matthew Yglesias wrote in a postelection manifesto.
So far, so good, though certain progressive attitudes on these subjects have become deeply entrenched. There remains evidence that old habits die hard.
It appears that some Democrats aren’t ready to quit Vice President Kamala Harris. President Joe Biden’s stubborn commitment to a reelection bid despite widespread concerns about his age is getting more of the blame for the Democrats’ loss than Harris’s unwillingness to sit down with podcast host Joe Rogan. Democrats may also have developed a greater appreciation for Trump’s political talents, no longer believing that only a uniquely incompetent politician can lose an election to him. Harris, Democrats keep reminding us, had just 107 days to run a presidential campaign.
All this gives Harris hope, which she implores us to hold on to even when it appears to be in short supply. Politico reported that Harris has been phoning advisers and allies to say, “I am staying in the fight.”
“There will be a desire to hear her voice, and there won’t be a vacuum for long,” an unnamed “person close to Harris” told the outlet.
Alas, Harris attempted to satiate this desire with an ill-advised video released shortly before Thanksgiving. “I just have to remind you,” she exhorted Democrats on social media, “don’t you ever let anybody take your power from you. You have the same power that you did before Nov. 5. And you have the same purpose that you did. And you have the same ability to engage and inspire.”
There was much engagement on X and elsewhere, but less inspiration. The video was widely mocked. And it was a reminder of the qualities that made Harris a poor candidate.
Some of this is the inevitable letdown of framing the presidential race as a defense of democracy against a Hilterian opponent, who had inconveniently already served a term as president, and then losing. What does that leave you, other than to ponder the California governor’s race? Fascism has not historically been beaten by motivational speakers.
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Harris has really never been able to answer the basic Roger Mudd question that stumped Ted Kennedy in 1979: Why do you want to be president? The imperative of stopping Trump seemed like a good enough substitute for most Democrats, but not most of the country.
If Democrats learn their lessons, there will be no Kamala comeback.
Hugo Gurdon will return next week.